two worlds (no choice)
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Piers never expected to face a choice between his soulmate and his best friend. But then, he never really expected his soulmate to be a wizard, either.


Assignment 1. Mythology, task 6: Maat: Write about someone refusing to pick a side.

….

Piers didn't expect this.

He didn't expect any of this, but he _certainly_ didn't expect to find his soulmate, the man whose silhouette has followed him since birth, etched in the shadows cast from any source of light, sitting in a bar, drowning his sorrows in some dark olive green liquid, with eyes that looked as old as time.

Honestly, Piers almost missed it, except for when the man raised a glass to his lips, Piers' shadow did the same, and the timing, the pacing, it was all too perfect.

Piers had sat down beside him, watching as the man's shadow took a seat in synchrony, and he knew.

He'd said hello, and the man had turned to him oh-so-slowly, and Piers had wondered what kind of horror could make a man look that haunted.

So he'd started with a simple invitation to dinner, and when the man had hesitated, Piers had gestures to the shadows on the floor.

And the man had said yes.

…

His name was Dean.

Piers learned about him slowly.

He was a man who spoke little, who preferred contemplation, who didn't like to speak about his past.

Three months in — three months of dinners and conversations carried by Piers and cinema trips and a weird distance that Piers can't overcome — Piers met Seamus.

Seamus was Dean's best friend. He was loud, with a strong South Irish accent, as though he was from somewhere in the Wicklow mountains. He was a strong contrast to Dean — pale with freckles where Dean was dark, short where Dean was tall, and most dramatic of all, an endless sea of fresh chatter.

Dean smiled at him more in the space of three hours than he'd smiled at Piers in three months.

Then Seamus asked Piers how he took the news, and Dean's eyes went wide but Seamus was laughing, talking about his father who needed three spells to believe in magic, the last and most convincing being a levitation spell that hauled him into the air.

And Piers didn't understand, because Dean looked too panicked for a bad joke.

" _What_?" Piers croaked out and Seamus looked between them and clapped a hand over his mouth, then turned to Dean.

"You haven't told him yet?"

And Dean mutely shook his head.

And Piers stared at them in disbelief.

"It's been three months!" Seamus said. "He's your damn soulmate!"

"You don't get it, okay?" Dean said to Seamus.

"Are you trying to tell me magic is real?" Piers asked.

And Seamus had pulled out a stick and conjured a flame and Dean had said nothing and Piers had fled.

...

So, in his confusion, Piers did what he always did when he was confused, and he went to Dudley. Because Dudley, even in his meanest times, has always had some bit of kindness to spare for Piers. Piers has never understood why. He tries not to question it.

"Dudley," he said. "You know I met my soulmate."

And Dudley had smiled, faintly, but then Piers had continued.

"And. Well, you're not going to believe this. It sounds crazy."

And Dudley's face had darkened as he said, "Try me," and Piers had remembered that there was a year of Dudley's life where he disappeared. A year he still refused to talk about.

"He and his friend… they say they have magic."

And Dudley had visibly flinched and that didn't lessen Piers' confusion.

"Magic is a curse," Dudley mumbled and Piers stared at him because _what._

"It's a curse and it's stupid and you should stay away from him," Dudley said, scoffing.

"Magic isn't real!" Piers yelled, trying to figure out why he was suddenly the only sane one in the universe. It feels like a punishment for something.

"Then why did I spend a year running from it, stuck in hiding? Why did it kill my Aunt and Uncle? Why did it drive my cousin into madness? What was that _thing_ that came and took all the happy away, if not magic? It's real, Piers. It's real and it _sucks._ " His fists are clenched at his sides. He looks furious, blazing in a way Piers has never seen him look. This is not Dudley at play. This is Dudley more serious than he's ever been.

Piers stared at him. His best friend in the world.

His best friend was telling him to stay away from his soulmate and his soulmate was claiming to have magic and Piers didn't expect any of this.

How is he supposed to choose who to trust?

Does he forsake his soulmate on the word of his best friend? Or does he chase his soulmate and risk alienating his best friend?

He can't bear the thought of either.

"Oh," is all he'd said aloud.

And then he'd left, and he'd found a bar, and he'd ordered a double of whiskey and downed it, staring at the surface of the bar.

Dudley is his best friend. Dudley has always been by his side.

But Dean is his soulmate. Supposedly his perfect other half.

How is he supposed to pick between them?

He downed another double shot of whiskey and ordered a third.

He kept at it until the world began to blur, until he didn't have to think about the way Dean looked at Seamus, about the way Dudley had sounded talking about magic, about the possibility of losing either of them.

He drank until he didn't have to think about anything at all.

* * *

917 words - for writing month and dragons

Romance Awareness: your soulmate is your shadow

Auction: soulmate AU, 917 words, 90 coins

Writing Club: CA: 19. Trio era / Disney: C2: Bert - friends for a long time / Cookie's Crafty Corner: Yarn: learning something new / Book Club: Aunt Lydia: (colour) dark green, (word) scoff, (word) punishment / Showtime 10. Spooky Mormon Hell Dream - (action) Lying / AA gen 3. Write about someone covering something up / Buttons: w3: freckles / Lyric 5. Run away, they say. / Sophie's Shelf: trio slash 9. deanpiers / Em's Emporium 16. Someone who makes you smile / Angel's Arcade: 5. (color) olive green, (trait) deceitful, (action) clenching fists / Lo's Lowdown c4: someone who prefers actions to words / Bex c3: someone lying for a good reason / Film 4. Getting drunk & 54\. Hiding

Holmes: play

Fortnightly: Chocolate: Truffle 2. Unsweetened - write about a rude character.

Seasonal:Days: World Gin Day: Write about someone getting drunk. Alt, write about a morning after. / Summer prompts: fresh / Elemental: blaze / Shay's Musicals: Hair - write about being pulled between two people / Gryff Themed: Dean

Tea:

Gobstones: Pink Stone - Secrets; A: (word) Freckle; P: (dialogue) "You don't get it, okay?" T: (emotion) Disgust


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